Valerie Harper discusses the series "Valerie" - TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by TMC

When I first saw the interview, I just felt that Valerie was pretty much saying stuff that most of us already know. I was kind of hoping that she would go deeper on her issues (namely working with Miller-Boyett as producers) with the show.

The network's side was to say that Valerie was fired because she was mentally unstable:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,3882738&hl=en

Valerie's side of the story:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...6,964726&hl=en

The actual story was that Valerie was having creative differences with the writers and producers. NBC was happy because they wanted a vehicle for Jason Bateman for a long time. When Valerie got demanding NBC let her go and she was not shy about talking about it.

The big difference was Valerie had a financial stake in the show before the problems. So instead of going to court, she paid a private "arbitrator" to settle it and the producers agreed to it. Valerie said, she believed she was right but realized how Hollywood worked and didn't want it to get around she was hard to work with. And if it took years to get through the courts, the truth, over time, would be lost and disputed.

By going to binding arbitration the case was resolved fairly quick and in her favor and she wound up with a total of 25% stake. This made the big difference as now Valerie Harper had no incentive to knock or run down or even talk about the show, since she'd lose money in the long run and she was getting a nice paycheck for doing nothing AND she was free to work on other projects.

Thanks, TMC. These links and the video here are great.

I was somewhat aware of the Valerie dispute because I was a viewer of the show at that time, and the TV newsmagazines were constantly reporting on the spat. Watching the show go through two title changes, as well as listening to details of the feud at the time, was interesting.

It seems more clear now that Valerie was worried the show was becoming The Jason Bateman Show, and she definitely had a legitimate reason to worry: Miller-Boyett had a long history of focusing on a break-out character, to the detriment of the other characters.

[JSP]

Originally Posted by TMC

https://www.nickiswift.com/132496/ac...or-more-money/

I have an issue with that article. It seems to imply Ritter was earning $150,000 per Three’s episode when it was more likely $50,000.

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It seems more clear now that Valerie was worried the show was becoming The Jason Bateman Show, and she definitely had a legitimate reason to worry: Miller-Boyett had a long history of focusing on a break-out character, to the detriment of the other characters.

Very true

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

It seems more clear now that Valerie was worried the show was becoming The Jason Bateman Show

I think someone said according to her book, that's not true (I haven't read it though).

[TMC]

Does anybody on here feel that NBC unfairly characterized Valerie Harper as being distributive and a diva? It wasn't exactly like a Suzanne Somers kind of thing over on Three's Company. Sure, Valerie may have had her faults - she even admitted in one of her interviews that she takes ownership of things she did. But on the same token, she had a number of years as a professional actress and had already appeared on two hit shows, and this show was about her and named after her. Valerie by the simple looks of it, felt being that it was quite literally, "her show", she was entitled to more money (but not a "crazy amount" mind you) and creative input.